Vice-Versa -re:mastered-
by Nimondor
Summary: After Professor Oak calls on all Dex Holders, a strange portal appears in the sky near Cinnabar Island. The next thing they know, they are in a new world but, oddly, the same. Why would anyone want the two worlds to become mixed up? Will Ash and his friends be able to help them get back to their home and stop the madness? A revised version of the original.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: ****As you can tell by the title, this is a "re-mastered" version of the original Vice-Versa. There will be major changes, and updates will become regular once every two weeks. This is still a heavily based game/anime crossover, though there are a few manga characters in here. However the only manga characters are: Ruby, Sapphire, Green(f) and Yellow. Everyone else will be from the games (like Blue(m) and Red) or anime (Ash and co.) and their teams may differ occasionally.**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling. Hope you enjoy the newest version of this story! Just like Misadventures, I have the next few chapters ready and all I have to do is keep to my schedule and fine-tune and post them. Be sure to go to my profile to get my 3DS friend code and add me and happy reading!**

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><p><em>Chapter One<em>

**Mount Silver**

The harsh winds roared violently in the sky, the first sign that an incoming blizzard was going to hit the tip of the mountain. Bits of loose snow blew from the ground and into the air, creating a false sense that the snow was already coming down at the speed of light. The pokemon had all fled into the caves of the mountain for protection, where it was warmer and wind didn't cut through their thick fur. The next sign was the sudden drop of temperature and the darkening skies, thunder rumbling occasionally as the storm came closer.

It certainly wasn't a good idea to be outside of the caverns during this time especially for someone without a proper jacket on or even boots. The Kanto Champion stood at the top of the mountain, unscathed by the cold and after five years of being on the largest mountain in Kanto and Johto, he barely felt the harsh winds against his bare skin. He'd been up here for so long he'd gotten used to the biting temperatures. Blue enjoyed calling it a self-imposed exile and while that may be true, he wasn't alone. His pokemon refused to let him stay up there alone, especially Pikachu and Charizard.

After everything that had happened during their initial journey, none of them would leave each other alone.

He figured he was the 'lucky' one out of Blue, Green and himself, always attracting trouble wherever he went, whether it be Pewter City or Saffron City. Whether it was against wild and wickedly strong pokemon or Team Rocket.

Red turned his eyes up to the sky, knowing full well that it was nearly time to go back inside of their cavern home before the storm hit. The storm of this size would keep them inside for at least the rest of the day and quite possibly the next. However, a smile formed on his lips as he turned towards his pokemon.

The team had long since learned how to train themselves; they knew that if someone like the Johto Champion ever decided to come back up, they would have to defeat him. Their battles were constant and balanced, neither champion won over the other consistently. Equally matched, Gold found himself wandering up the viscous mountain to challenge the Champion of the Mountain more than just a few times.

He was getting bored of the same trainer and the same team, he wanted another challenge against another trainer though it never happened. He knew other trainers tried their best, but so far, none had reached the peak of the harsh mountain before their teams had blacked out or they were scared off by other pokemon. One was lucky Red was wandering the caverns once when the storm got too bad and he'd found the injured trainer and took him to the nearest pokemon center via Charizard.

Pikachu had been his starter and even though he was the smallest, he was a powerful little mouse and still Red regretted ever trying to shove a thunderstone into his face to get him to evolve. Blastoise was trying to perfect his Hydro Cannon, aiming the twin guns attached to his shell towards a pile of snow that turned out to be Snorlax, well, snoring away. After he was hit, Snorlax immediately became irritated and as the two brawled against each other, Espeon only shook her head at them. She seemed to be the only one with enough sense to separate them. Venusaur was being shielded from the ice by Charizard's wings. After learning about double battles, Red decided to have them train with each other and protect themselves against their weaknesses. Charizard grumbled something, shooting a look towards Red as if to tell him to get inside before the storm hit. It reminded himself how many times the large fire-type had saved his own life from falling.

Before he became too engrossed in his thoughts, he turned around when he heard Pikachu's distinct cry shout over the wind, "Pika pi!"

He looked over to where the electric mouse pointed and instantly he spotted the trainer trudging through the snow and shivering in his red and black jacket. "Arceus, Red, seriously, put a coat on or something!" Gold whined. He ignored the champion roll his crimson eyes at the younger trainer but walked into the cave without another word. Red followed and naturally his pokemon did as well, shaking off snow and ice from themselves. "Obviously, the weather doesn't want us to battle outside, but I'm not even here to challenge you. Weird, right?" he added, noticing the confused look on Red's face.

He pulled out his pokegear, tapping through a few screens. "We sent you lots of messages but you never responded to any of them, and we really do need your help." His eyes flicked over, seeing the pile of various things, his unused pokegear among the pile. "Um… anyway, Professor Oak says that really weird portal things appeared in the sky near Cinnabar Island, but it's not really doing anything. Just sitting there. Everyone else is there, even Blue and Silver!" He looked up, turning his pokegear around to show Red the message from Professor Oak.

Red frowned slightly when he read the simple message, _"I'm asking for help from all of you. You are all very capable trainers, but it is better to discuss what is going on in person. Meet me at my lab on October 3__rd__ at 11 a.m."_ As he looked up, Gold put the device away into his pocket.

"And obviously, it's past that date and time. Professor Oak sent me up here to get your help. He won't give any more details until everyone is there, that includes you. Blue told me to tell you what happened, happened and nothing can change that." His eyes were pleading towards his senior. "Professor Oak seemed worried, Red."

Red sighed, looking at Pikachu hesitantly as the yellow mouse jumped onto his shoulder with agile grace, nodding. "Pika."

Finally, he turned his head back to Gold and gave him a single nod, causing his eyes to light up and a bright smile appear. "Really?! You really mean it?! Oh, man, Blue owes me big time for this! Originally he was supposed to come up here and drag you back to Pallet Town, but he said that he'd want to fight you instead of bringing you back to civilization. Obviously, I came instead. But there's storm coming, so I don't think we'll be able to go anywhere until it leaves so I'll let Professor—hey, Red, where are you going?!" He got up when the trainer walked away, recalling all but Charizard and Pikachu. "You're going to fly now?"

Red didn't need to respond as he jumped up onto Charizard's back. When he took off, Gold cried, "Hey! Wait for me!" He sent out Togekiss, flying right after him.

To be honest, Red was a little excited to go home. He hadn't seen his mother since before he'd gone after his seventh badge against Blaine, and that was only a mere few hours before he left again. Arceus, he hadn't even visited Professor Oak since that time and he highly doubted Blue would even want to look at him when he arrived. It was too bad, they used to be best friends when they were young children, but ever since becoming trainers, they grew apart. Too far to mend any broken friendship.

As they flew past the Indigo Plateau and Victory Road, Red didn't look back at the beautiful mountain as it became shrouded in the storm.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

**Pallet Town, Kanto**

All of this waiting around was really testing Blue's patience. He had been waiting in Pallet Town for the past two days and nothing was happening while the other trainers that had been called were also restless, battling each other or having faux contests occasionally to pass the time.

Other than battling, Pallet Town did have a few other things that stood out such as the beautiful beach that held as an entrance to Route 21 and the rolling green hills that had houses far between each other. The closest houses that were together were his and Red's homes, far down the hills closest to Route one with a simple white picket fence separating the two. Red's mother and Daisy got along beautifully and today was no different; the two ladies were baking chocolate chip cookies for the visiting trainers despite a few polite declines.

His grandfather's laboratory was easily the largest building in the little town, sitting atop the tallest hill near the city line, overlooking the town and had a nice view of the ocean. A large pokemon park rested in the back of the laboratory, full of various different trainer's pokemon and even housed a few that had come from Johto. On occasion, the park would be full of _wild_ pokemon that had come to know the kind old man, letting him study them and they would gratefully accept the food he offered. When the other pokédex holders had arrived, only a couple of them were mildly interested in his research while Diamond went so far as to have a debate with the mild-mannered professor about pokemon from Sinnoh versus Kanto.

Blue was currently outside with the other trainers, watching as Pearl got up to referee a battle between Sapphire and Crystal for what they called training. He was pretty sure that it was just a simple way to end an argument between the girls, knowing that they had their many disagreements. As much as he loved watching pokemon battles, his eyes couldn't help but stare at the sky, towards the direction of the Indigo Plateau and towards the distant Mount Silver.

He would never, _ever_ admit to anyone that he was anxious to see his rival after so many years. What was he supposed to tell Red's mother? She hadn't gotten her hopes up; she expected her son to stay on that mountain. Maybe she even thought he was dead and he wouldn't disprove that theory. He and Red had the best battle, also the most stressful, ever and after he'd lost and Red had gone in to have his name immortalized in the Hall of Fame, he vanished. He had no idea why, not even Lance knew where he had run off to and League officials made him the Champion substitute until Red was found. After a year of no luck, it was official that he was the champion once more.

Until Gold came back from a long trip up the dangerous mountain bragging about having the best battle in his life with "the guy who never spoke," even though he had lost, Blue also thought that his rival was long dead. After adding a few more details about the person's appearance, he instantly knew it was his long-time rival. He himself had tried going up the mountains a few times, but most of the time he was forced to turn back because of the weather or because of the insane amount of strong pokemon that kicked their asses.

After the fourth time trying to scale the mountain, he'd given up trying to go up himself but he did purchase a brand-new pokegear and handed it to Gold nearly a year and a half later. The younger trainer only delivered the device to have a re-match with the champion and came back looking proud and claiming he'd defeated Red after changing and training his team. He'd sent several text messages to the lost trainer, and although he'd never gotten any back, somehow he knew he at least checked the pokegear occasionally.

Fast forward six months to the current day, the only one who seemed to have noticed their senior's troubled feelings was Diamond, who came to sit beside Blue quietly before setting Munchlax into his own lap. The young assistant researcher was silent before taking a breath. "You know," he said softly, "if you are worried about something, you can always talk to me." He looked up at him with a smile. "I may not be as smart as Professor Oak, or as brave as Gold, or as wise as Platinum, but I'm sure Mesprit chose me for a good reason."

Blue looked at him with a startled look but nodded once and looked at the battle again. "I'm not worried. Just pissed off," he replied hotly.

He tilted his head slightly with curiosity, much like a growlithe would. "What happened anyway? I heard you both were champions, but instead of accepting the offer of being champion again, you elected to become the eighth gym leader. Why?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Because I'm curious," he replied calmly with a shrug, handing Munchlax an oran berry. "Because talking will help you get better. Not much, but I know it will."

Blue sighed, staring at the sky again for a moment and finally sighed loudly over the sounds of the battle near them. "I was champion for a whole three hours. It was the best time of my life, I accomplished my dreams. We were ten at the time, and when he came in and defeated me, I lost my temper. Called him an Arceus forsaken idiot and of course he didn't say anything, and I damn near punched him but that was the perfect time for Gramps to show up and scold me about my pokemon and my sore loser attitude. After that day, Red disappeared. No one where he went so the League offered me my place back at the spot. Something told me I shouldn't do it, so I took the gym leader position instead. I thought if that spot remained open, Red would come back. But… he never did. The League gave the position back to Lance instead, and three years later, Gold comes by and tells us that he went up Mount Silver and beat Red. I tried going up there myself a couple of times, but the pokemon up there are crazy strong. I'm sure I could do it now, but I never went. Maybe I didn't have the courage to do it."

Diamond was patient as he listened, nodding once and looked up at him as Munchlax stared at them both. "I understand. I think you were supposed to wait anyhow, it wouldn't seem right to take your friend's position."

Blue snorted loudly. "Friend? He's my rival and only that. At this rate, he won't even come back, and I don't think he ever will." With that, he got up, walking off towards the fields to visit Arcanine and ignored Diamond's concerned look.

At the current moment, Blue wasn't sure if he was more annoyed rather than angry. He was glad Arcanine sensed his distress and instantly took his mind off of it for a simple game of fetch, barking happily as he bounded after the large toy and immediately brought it back to him. Arcanine may be full grown, but even the oldest of pokemon loved to play. Blue smiled at his trusty fire-type and looked over when he noticed his grandfather walking up to him. "Yo, Gramps! Doesn't look like Red'll show, like we thought, so let's get this party started already!"

The old man looked at him but turned to Arcanine instead, smiling as the large pokemon returned, dropping the toy in front of Blue and sat down beside his trainer with his tongue out as he panted. "You're treating your pokemon better, and for that I am proud, Blue," he said instead, scratching Arcanine behind the ears. That earned him a delighted tail wag and bark. "Not just Arcanine here, but all of them. They are closer to you now because of that dedication."

Blue gave him a bored look. "You're avoiding the subject, Gramps."

Professor Oak gave an exasperated sigh, turning to Blue now as Arcanine panted away and ran after the toy he threw. "Always to the point, aren't you? Everyone else is heading inside already, Gold should be back soon. When he is here, I will give all of you details about what is going on."

His grandson watched him turn and disappear inside of the laboratory, then looked at Arcanine when he returned and he whined softly, butting his head gently against Blue's shoulder. "I know, buddy. We all wish he'd come back." He patted his mane, then turned to head to the lab himself before pausing at the sound of Arcanine's single bark.

He turned back to the pokemon and followed his gaze towards the sky; he watched as Gold flew down for a graceful landing from Togekiss, grinning ear to ear as he returned the tired pokemon. After clipping the pokéball onto his belt, he went up to Blue proudly. "I think someone owes me for this!" he exclaimed.

"Owe you for what? I only see you here," he replied then raised a brow when Gold's face turned to confusion.

The younger trainer lost his smile. "What do you mean? Hasn't Red come yet?"

_He's really coming?_

His silence prompted Gold to speak again. "He left before me! Sure, we lost track of him when we were flying over Viridian City, but I assumed that he would fly straight here!"

Blue narrowed his eyes. "You idiot! He won't fly straight here! He's the kind of person who if you let your sight off of him for a second, he runs off to do his own thing!" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Arceus, he's always been like this. Let's get inside, Gramps said he's going to start anyhow. We all knew Red wouldn't show."

Gold frowned and looked behind himself, then up at the sky as he squinted his eyes, trying to find out where a large orange pokemon with fire on its tail could have disappeared in a bright blue, cloudless sky. "He's coming, I swear it! You just have to wait for a few minutes, I'm sure he'll be here soon!"

He rolled his eyes at his optimism, looking at the sky again before turning his head towards the door when he heard Professor Oak calling for the two of them to hurry inside. "Everyone's waiting for us, so—"

"No, not us," Gold interrupted, suddenly smiling smugly and pointed up. "We're all waiting on him."

Blue looked up again, too shocked to say anything to see the large Charizard suddenly land in front of them with a loud _thwump_ as it hit the ground. The beast snorted at them and lowered itself so its rider could slide off and return it to the pokéball waiting in his hand. Red was silent as he locked eyes with Blue, who narrowed his own. Red had grown, they were finally the same height now but Blue noticed he looked far older than his fifteen year old self. He looked more rugged, exhausted and wise all at the same time, but a young light still shone in those red eyes even if he stood up straight and said nothing as he grew more uncomfortable every passing second. "Yea. Waiting on him," Blue finally said sharply and turned around quickly. Frustrated at his rival's sudden return, he said nothing more as he slammed the door to the lab open and disappeared inside.

Gold frowned, looking at Red as he hesitated, looking at the laboratory. The younger trainer smiled, recognizing the sudden guilt in his crimson eyes and caught his attention by saying, "Let's go. He'll get over it soon."

He gave him a curt nod, following him inside.

An overwhelming sense of nostalgia hit Red hard in the chest and he faltered in his steps, looking around the familiar computer room while Gold continued on through the halls. After five years it hadn't changed, and many memories of himself playing with the local pokemon as a child brought a small smile to his face and he let it fade as he followed Gold to the conference room, losing the smile as soon as he heard multiple voices including Blue saying, "Gramps, he's here."

Professor Oak was standing near a screen, remote in hand and nearly dropped it when he spotted Red but didn't bother hiding his emotions as he went to the young trainer and hugged him tightly. Awkwardly, Red patted his back a few times and the old man pulled away, smiling. "Go on and sit, we can catch up later," he said softly and motioned towards the chairs. Red elected to sit near the back away from the table, ignoring curious looks from other trainers while Professor Oak clicked a screen, showing them a picture.

Most of them seemed to be disturbed at the sight, seeing a strange portal above the ocean, almost like the sky had a crack in it. The portal was completely dark, a few dots of white in it but Diamond, Pearl and Platina immediately looked at each other with knowing, though a bit suspicious, looks. "This appeared approximately a mile away from Cinnabar Island, and as three of you may know, we have a theory of what it could be. After confirming Giritina, Palkia and Dialga's existences, it would come as to no surprise that this could be one of their portals."

Platina shook her head and raised a hand. "It is similar to the portals they use, but it is not the same," she said as she looked at the picture again.

"Palkia's portrals had a slight pink tinge to them," Pearl added. "Dialga's was a little blue and Giritina's portals looked a little, ah, smoother than a crack in the sky."

Diamond nodded in agreement, though Professor Oak glanced at the picture instead. "In any case, we don't know if this could cause a threat to us, so myself and the other professors decided to ask all of you to help us figure out what it is."

"That seems more like a job for rangers or other professors though," Ruby noted.

"Why would you send us over there? We are pokemon trainers, we won't know what to look for," added Gold.

"That is where both of you are wrong," the old professor said. "There have been an alarming number of pokemon attacks near the island, and I want you to investigate. Most of the attacks are happening on the water, so we think the portal may have caused the water pokemon to become upset."

"Obviously," Silver mumbled under his breath.

The professor turned the screen off, then turned towards the trainers. "Could you do this for us?"

A few of the trainers grinned, and others gave nods. "C'mon, Gramps, it's me you're talking about, 'course I'll go," Blue said, the first to stand up. "In fact, I think we should leave as soon as possible."

Professor Oak nodded with agreement. "Good idea, but there is no telling what'll happen, so please be careful."

As soon as he said that, the others got up, heading towards the door that led outside. Red hesitated before he got up and looked at Blue, who scoffed and turned away and walked out. "He was actually very worried about you," Professor Oak said once they were alone.

_Blue? Worried? That doesn't seem like him at all,_ Red thought with a raised brow.

"If he was worried, you know your mother has been too." Red frowned in guilt, choosing to stare at a rather nice chair that was tucked into the table. "Red, I don't know why you left, or why you never chose to came back, but you really ought to visit her. When she found out you were missing, she didn't really come out of the house as often as she used to and whenever she did, she hardly smiled or spoke. When we found out you were alive and on Mount Silver, she refused to accept it. When you get back, go visit her and don't let your nerves get to you this time. Understand?" Red looked up sharply at him, seeing the smile on the old man's face. "It's why Gold came back earlier than you did. You got nervous. Don't think I don't know you. I practically had to help raise you and Blue since you ran away from your mother often enough. Now hurry up and go, I'm willing to bet Blue is waiting for you again."

He nodded and turned, though paused when Professor Oak added, "And Red?" The trainer looked at him through the door way, blinking once. "It's good to see you." He nodded again and disappeared through the doors.

Outside of the laboratory, Blue had returned Arcanine to his pokéball and looked at the doors as Red came out, grabbing one of his own. "We should get to the island before it gets dark," the gym leader said as he released Pidgeot. "The others are waiting by the beach." Red watched him take off, looking at Charizard when he released him. Finally his eyes traveled towards the white picket fence in the distance but he shook his head as he got onto the large lizard's back, following Blue quickly through the sky.

From the air, he could see the other trainers releasing various different pokemon, but as he landed, he heard the main conversation as a blond trainer rubbed his head. "Where is this place anyway?" Pearl asked.

"Not too far really, Cinnabar Island is maybe half a day's flight or surf from here," Gold replied as he patted Togekiss' head.

Sapphire suddenly grinned. "We can take ol' Walo there!" She whistled loudly as a trainer with a white hat on came up beside her, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Or why not just a boat," Ruby groaned, "like civilized people?"

"There aren't any boats here, ya nimrod," she replied, scowling with disapproval.

"Then we should find one!"

"You just aren't adventurous enough!"

"You're a wild child! I have no need to go running off into a filthy salty ocean again! Do you know how long it took to get my other clothes to stop smelling like salt water?!"

"We all know you two love each other now get over it and let's go," Blue interrupted and took off with Red following close behind. Most of them flew or surfed past, though most of the ladies giggled at their shocked silence and red faces.

"What! It's not like that!" Ruby shouted at him, climbing onto the wailord's back with Sapphire.

Red was inwardly groaning. He'd never traveled with other people on his initial journey, and now he knew why. This was going to be a long, long trip.

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><p><strong>I'm being good and actually keeping to schedule! Go me! I'm on twitch, y'all, so you can watch me stream minecraft or other video games too. If you couldn't guess it, the username is always nimondor :P<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

**Cinnabar Island**

It was nearly completely dark by the time they reached the Cinnabar Island with the ocean waves calmly lapping over the sandy beach. Red landed and patted Charizard's neck in thanks as he put the large fire-type into his pokéball again. He looked up at the volcano and knew without asking that during some time on his stay on the mountain, it had erupted and covered most of the inner island with dark rock and didn't bother look at Blue when he came beside him. "A year after you left, it erupted. The only original building now is the pokemon center, the rest were destroyed," he shortly explained and walked forward towards said center.

Ruby slid off of Walo's back gratefully, stretching as Sapphire jumped off beside him and smiled at the Wailord, waving as it returned to the sea. As he straightened his hat, the others landed on the beach nearly one right after the other however each head was turned towards the sky, seeing the not-so-distant spectacle in the sky. Wind seemed to roar around it however Sapphire scoffed at it. "That? I've dealt with winds faster than that!" she boasted however most ignored her as Ruby rolled his eyes.

"Wind isn't what we're worried about, genius," he scolded.

Blue turned towards them and looked up but then at the trainers again. "It's not going anywhere, the pokemon center's over here, we can get some rooms there for tonight and tomorrow morning we can check out whatever that is," he called to them from the top of the rocky hill and disappeared from sight as he walked away.

Red stared up at the mountain instead, the top of it seemed to have been cut clean off with a dull blade, a few lumps from the top gave away that it had been much taller before. Crystal came up beside him when he didn't move an inch, smiling at him. "I overheard Blue tell you what happened. Blaine and the gym trainers escaped and helped others get out, the gym's no longer on the island, it's within the Seafoam Isles now," she said and he nodded in approval and looked at her with a critical eye, and she understood the silent question as her face fell a little. "I heard a lot of people and pokemon still died though. It was all over the news for weeks."

She looked up at him again. "People even say Moltres and Entei came to help calm the volcano, but whether it's true or not, it's still a mystery." It would make sense for half of the rumor, though. Moltres only came to Mount Silver a year or so after he took up residence on the peak. "Come on, the others are waiting for us."

"And despite appearances, Pearl can eat more than me sometimes, and that's saying something," Diamond said as he walked past them and over the hill.

Red followed the younger trainers towards the center. The island didn't have nearly as many tourists as before, which was understandable, but with one look to the half-buried mansion he decided he'd had enough and opened the doors to the pokemon center. Inside, Blue was at the counter and had keys in his hands, handing them to every other trainer. "We have four rooms, so pick your roommates," he said and added a look towards Red, who inwardly groaned. He didn't want to be lectured by his rival about anything, but the look said he wasn't going to be able to get away this time.

Gold slung his arms over Silver and Crystal's shoulders. "Us three just like old times, eh?" he said and took a set of keys. Silver rolled his eyes at him as Crystal promptly kicked him, but they followed him anyway down the hall. As the others disappeared into their rooms—a few holding plates of food—Red sat down on one of the bunk beds in the first room to the left of the hall and watched as Blue came in and closed the door. Pikachu had already let itself out and claimed its trainers hat as he took off his shoes, deciding to use the accessory as a makeshift bed.

Finally after a long silence, Blue sat on the other set of bunk beds and looked at him and said, "I can see why Gramps scolded me and gave you praise at the league."

Red looked up at the trainer with a quizzical look. This was unlike him, not the self-centered arrogant trainer he'd known; he was never so mature, although the last time he had seen him they were ten. A few years did change people.

"I figured it out not too long ago, actually. It took a while. I realized that nothing else meant more to me than that title. I always wanted to be champion, but I neglected the care of my own pokemon, instead pushing them with no motivation and without caring for their well-being. I didn't understand how or why your pokemon loved you so much and got past so many boundaries and even beat Team Rocket on the side." He set his own shoes to the side, narrowing his eyes at Red seriously. "You left without telling anyone. Not Lance, not me, not even your mom. Why'd you do it? Why did you leave? To train? To wallow in self-pity? Did you not want to be found? We only found out you were alive up there after Gold came back and boasted about meeting you. Gramps only gave him that pass to go up to Mount Silver because it was the one place most trainers, even rangers and police, can't go without having whole teams wiped out. He thought you might be up there, and obviously there you were, being as lazy as ever in the snow."

Red looked guilty, staring at his knees for a bit as he tried of thinking of the many reasons why he left. How was he supposed to tell Blue what happened without upsetting him further? He closed his mouth, realizing it was open however he looked up when he heard a creak in the other bed. The unexpected pain in his jaw and cheek should have been expected though, Blue had every right to punch him. Blue's hand remained in a fist even as Pikachu's cheeks sparked and he growled threateningly, though it calmed as Red shook his head once at it, putting a hand on the left side of his face.

"Did you even stop to think about how we would all feel? I'll bet that you didn't!" he nearly shouted, and Red couldn't say he wasn't astonished to see tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. "Do you know what it feels like when basically a brother just disappears all of a sudden? We all thought you were dead for nearly four years!" Finally he fell to his knees and struggled to hold back a sob.

Sure, Red had seen Blue cry before, but not like this and certainly not because of him. It was rare for him to show emotion like this to anyone; that had never changed. Red knelt in front of him and pulled him into a hug, one that was returned tightly. Blue's head remained down, but it wasn't long before he pulled away with a deep breath and wiped his eyes.

"You're a giant, stupid idiot. Didn't even bring a heavy jacket for the weather."

Red smiled a little, seeing the person he knew come back. He still sounded like his nose was stuffy, but Blue's tone was calm again, as if the crying session took away years of stress and worry.

"Thanks… you know, for not being dead and all. But if you ever decide to just up and run away again, at least tell me. And if you tell anyone that I was crying, I'll murder you in your sleep."

He smiled again and nodded. He could definitely keep that promise, then looked over as Pikachu went to Blue with a worried look, butting his head against his hand. Blue gave a soft laugh. "I'm all right, Pikachu. I promise. But if your stupid trainer decides to run away, you'll Thunderbolt him right?"

That earned a smile and nod as the mouse squeaked out, "Pika pi!"

Satisfied, the small pokemon jumped up onto Red's shoulder and Blue got up, helping Red along the way. "I'm nowhere near tired, but my team has changed, you haven't seen some of my pokemon, maybe you don't even know what one is. In the years you were gone, tons of new pokemon were discovered. Hell, there are even candle and ice cream cone shaped pokemon." He laughed as Red's face gave a confused look. "I know. That's what I thought too. But those are from Unova. Oh, there's also these fairy types that were discovered in Kalos, not as common as most other pokemon though."

Blue kept talking about the many different pokemon that had been discovered ever since he was gone, and not long into the conversation, Pikachu had put itself back into its pokéball to sleep and the sun was completely down, the dark sky showing off the thousands of stars. The only difference was the strange portal in the sky, nearly clear as day against the black sky.

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><p>Platinum yawned when it neared two in the morning, having been woken up by a strong need of water and the strong winds hitting the building hard. Before she could even crawl back into bed, she looked outside when there was a flash of lightning. "Huh?" she blurted, looking outside. There wasn't even a single cloud in the sky, so where had the lightning come from? She shook Diamond and Pearl awake, quickly getting dressed and saw the others had also rushed outside to see what was going on. Nurse Joy was standing at the window in the front, looking worried as she stared at the sky. "What's going on?" Pearl asked, looking outside while the winds outside roared wildly, whipping the sand into a minor storm on the beach.<p>

Blue was already on his pokegear with Professor Oak, using the small camera on the top to send and record images for the old man. "I've never seen anything like this! You kids had better be careful, who knows what's out there," his voice said.

"How do you beat something transparent and that is flying towards the island?" Gold asked nervously as Silver grabbed Honchrow's pokéball.

Diamond frowned as he stared up at the sky hard, though his eyes widened suddenly. "Look! Inside, it is Giratina!" he said and pointed. They all turned and looked at the sky, though the only thing they saw was the tip of a tail vanishing from the other side of the portal. "Is this a portal to a different Distortion World?"

"There is only one that we know of, it is possible that there are many," the professor's voice said.

"Giratina is a calm pokemon though, it wouldn't come out all the way to Kanto for no reason!"

"Well, it isn't calm right now—hey, Diamond, don't go outside, it's too dangerous!" Blue shouted and ran after the younger trainer as he ran outside into the wind.

The others were quick to follow despite Nurse Joy shouting at them all to go back inside, saying something about rules about not leaving during a storm. Her calls, however, went ignored. Diamond didn't stop until he reached the beach, looking up at the portal, which was nearly directly over them by now. "Giratina!" he shouted as loud as he could over the wind, and those wearing hats were all holding them down. "Giratina, it's me! Please, you have to calm down!"

Sapphire gave a loud yelp, holding onto Ruby's hand before he too was giving a yell; both were being pulled up into the portal and Blue struggled to keep his own feet planted on the ground, trying to back up even though he knew it was a fruitless effort. He could barely hear Professor Oak shouting something at them, but when his feet left the ground, he gave a shout himself and didn't seem to care that his pokegear was ripped out of his hand and sent flying somewhere off into oblivion. "I blame this on you, Red!" he yelled and said trainer shot him a glare, eyes betraying nervousness, also trying to remain on the ground but failed just as bad as he. "Every time something happens, you're always around!"

The look he received was one telling him to be quiet, and not even ten seconds later, they were each on the other side of the portal and the wind vanished. Instead, it was replaced by intense pressure bearing all around them and Blue wasn't surprised to see a couple begin to pass out simply because of it.

It was odd looking down at the world from the other side of the portal; this world was completely dark, save for the light from the havoc the portal below caused them and what little light there was highlighting the ten trainers faces. In a matter of seconds, however, it was closed, and darkness consumed all of them. The pressure built slowly as the minutes dragged on, nearly a crushing sense before the invisible weight was lifted, and a bright flash of light appeared before his eyes as he was spat out above dirt-covered ground, coughing when he hit it.

Blue let out a small groan as he tried rolling over, but decided to stay there for a while and let the dizziness pass. If he stood up now, nausea would take care of the next step for him. He heard the many chirps and sounds of various wild pokemon, and trees surrounded them, shielding them from a bright sun and blue sky. From beside him, he heard Gold groan and manage to stand. "Blue, you okay? Can you stand?" he asked and from the other side, he saw Red finally begin to stir, groaning quietly as he cracked his eyes open.

Blue managed to sit up, holding up a finger to Gold to let a fresh wave of dizziness pass, though it hadn't been as bad as before. "What was that? It's obvious it was a portal, 'cause we aren't on Cinnabar Island anymore," Gold finally managed to say.

"This looks awfully familiar…" Blue looked around and after turning around once, he blinked. "Huh."

"What?" Gold asked and Red turned his head around to look at what Blue was staring at.

In front of them stood a bewildered group of trainers, the middle one perhaps the leader with black hair and stared at them and then stared at Red. This kid was a near exact copy of himself, save for the strange marks on his cheeks. He even had the Pikachu on his shoulder.

Blue muttered something, growing even more confused. "I don't even think we're in our own universe anymore."

* * *

><p><strong>I stayed up till 3:30am last night playing Minecraft instead of writing... I made Majora's Mask! Took forever, but you should all check it out, I posted a picture of it on my twitter and instagram, and the other random stuff that I build.<strong>

**Anyway, this is kind of a short chapter, but the next three are much longer. Anyway, finally moving on into the anime world, yay! Be sure to favorite/follow/review! :D Oh, and Merry belated Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever else you celebrate :) **


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

**Viridian Forest, Kanto**

They were all laughing with, or in a few cases at each other, each trainer having some form of story about their many adventures, the good and the bad over the first night on their week-long camping trip. The group of six humans and their pokemon were taking a break from their lives for some good old fashioned fun, away from the craziness that was called Team Rocket, from busy daily training and even contests. There were a few delays, and it took a while to plan out but they all left Viridian City the day the final two members of their group arrived in Kanto.

The pokemon were out and frolicking around the camp, some playing, some sleeping and others exploring the area with other wild pokemon. Most had wandered to the river to play in the water under the close watch of their trainers to make sure none got lost or swam too far into the water. While they did their own thing, the humans handed each other food and told each other the stories around a small campfire during their lunch break. Ash even tried telling a ghost story, though only scared May and Dawn as Misty smacked his head as hard as she could.

It had been a sudden plan to go camping and at first it was only going to be Dawn, Brock and Ash on their way to Pallet Town to visit Ash's mother, Professor Oak and Tracey. The entire trip had been planned by Brock, but after hearing about it from Ash, others slowly began to put in their two cents and wanted to come too. Dawn wanted to go hiking, Misty wanted to go fishing and siblings May and Max were content with doing anything, though Max admitted he was excited to go fishing for the first time.

Eventually, they all decided that Viridian Forest was the perfect place to camp since it had everything they all wanted to do. The first day was mainly uneventful: none of them could agree on a spot to stay until finally after a long session of arguing and rock, paper, scissors, they went with Misty's idea to stay by the river. They struggled with the two tents near sunset and set them up correctly, but that was when Ash noticed Pikachu constantly stopping whatever he was doing to look around. Pikachu would push any strange thought aside when he was distracted by Piplup and trying to keep him out of trouble.

Ash soon began to notice subtle changes in the rest of the pokemon over the course of the day: a few were starting to grow nervous about something, but calmed as soon as they were with their trainers, however a few younger pokemon, such as May's Bulbasaur, refused to go anywhere from her side or lap. He looked at his own pokemon; Infernape was practicing fighting-type moves while Torterra was nearly fast asleep and Gliscor was playing with Buizel, Pikachu and Staraptor. All in all, they seemed to be fine after a few hours, their strange behavior momentarily forgotten.

As the sun began to set, Infernape made a fire for them and Brock handed the pokemon many bowls of his special pokemon food as Dawn and May handed out plates of food to their friends. It was a good day and Ash couldn't have wished for a better day with his friends in his life. All of them were back together again before they were separate and he would go to his next region with Pikachu. For a brief moment, he wished it could happen more often, but after a second thought and remembering how much work it took to plan, he decided against it.

By the time everyone was in a sleeping bag inside of their tents, Ash was the last one awake as he yawned and stretched as he stood up. He made sure the pokemon were comfortable with staying outside of their pokéballs before waving. "Good night, everyone!" he said to his team and blinked when Infernape suddenly looked unsure of something, eyeing him before stirring in his spot nervously. "What's wrong, Infernape?"

"Nape…" the monkey said, looking up at the moonless sky and Ash followed his gaze, only seeing the stars and the occasional cloud. One could get lost in the view but he looked at his pokemon again, hearing Torterra voice his own opinion with an agreeing nod coming from Gliscor.

"Bui! Bui!" Buizel exclaimed and tugged on Ash's pant leg as he pointed towards the shore of the river.

"Guys, everything is okay. Why don't you go to sleep. We will have lots of fun tomorrow!" He smiled and Infernape looked at Pikachu before finally nodding at Ash and leaned against Torterra to sleep. Ash looked at Pikachu as he elected to follow him into the tent he shared with Brock and Max, yawning again as he crawled into his sleeping bag.

He didn't dream, which was highly unusual, therefore he didn't even realize it was morning until Brock shook his shoulder awake. "Wake up, lazy. It's already eleven," he said and Ash groaned several times before forcing himself to sit up, blinking wearily. Brock smiled and nodded in approval before leaving him be to get changed and wake himself up. Pikachu whined the moment Ash woke him up as well and as soon as the two stumbled out of the tent, Ash squinted as the sun hit his eyes. The others were already wide awake and eating breakfast but it seemed like Misty and Max had been up the longest though the younger looked much tired than Misty and two fishing poles were out beside them on the ground.

"Good morning, Ash! Hi, Pikachu!" Dawn said cheerfully and smiled as he sat down beside her with a large yawn.

"Pikachuuuu," Pikachu yawned, then smiled as Dawn scratched his ears.

Ash's sleepiness went away almost completely as soon as a plate of eggs and bacon was handed to him. "Pikachu, you hungry, buddy?" he asked and Pikachu nodded, eagerly accepting a portion of the eggs.

"So what are we going to do today?" May asked and set her own empty plate to the side.

"We can always go hiking. I know there are a few trails around here," Brock replied as Misty nodded.

"Sounds like a plan! Then when we get back, we should have some s'mores," Ash added.

"Yea! And for dinner we can have some of the fish we caught this—" Misty started, but stopped as she looked up and pointed. "What is that?"

The others looked up, seeing a glimpse of a strange empty, black space in the sky near the river but as soon as they turned to look, a flash of light blinded them, causing them each to cover their eyes with a shout of surprise. As soon as it was gone, Ash blinked several times for the second time that day, getting rid of the spots in his vision before he stood up. "What was that?" he asked, seeing that the portal was now gone. He immediately noticed the pokemon stopped eating and chatting loudly amongst themselves.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted and started to sprint towards the shore while Piplup and Buneary were quick to follow.

"Hey, Pikachu, wait up!" Ash ran right after them, quickly running through the camp.

"Piplup! Buneary!" Dawn cried and dashed after her pokemon as well.

"Ash! Dawn!" Brock shouted and the others ran after them, breakfast abandoned.

Ash followed Pikachu for only a minute or so, but as soon as they neared the mouse's destination, Ash picked up the pace as soon as he spotted three humans struggling to get back up. Whatever happened they seemed to be disoriented while a familiar mop of spiky brown hair caught his attention. Pikachu stopped so suddenly, Ash nearly tripped over him and looked up at his trainer, jumping onto his shoulder as his friends finally caught up. The one with the spiky hair turned, blinking. "Huh," he said and didn't even bother hiding his confusion and worry.

"What?" the boy in the black capris said and turned around as the one in red looked up as well.

"I don't even think we're in our own universe anymore."

Ash was staring at them all, in particular the one that was silent and also staring at him in wonder, but soon broke his gaze to struggle to his feet. _What does he mean by their own universe? Palkia's the only one who can travel between spaces, right?_ Ash thought, watching as the second boy who had spoken helped their companion to his feet and was soon staring at Ash and then looked at the first.

"Does Red have a twin or something?" he asked as he looked at the boy in red.

The first shook his head and looked at him. "Not to my knowledge. Besides, even if he did, and knowing our parents, his name would be Fire or something like that."

"Gary?" Ash finally asked and frowned when he simply ignored his comment and put a hand on his shoulder. "Gary, what's going on?"

The spiky haired boy looked at him in complete confusion before it turned into a scowl and pushed his hand off. "Stop calling me that. My name is Blue Oak," he said and Ash looked at Brock as he shrugged.

"Are you related to the professor then?" Brock asked and Blue nodded.

"Yea, he's my grandpa."

"So then are you Gary's cousin or something?" Misty asked and the scowl returned.

Looking annoyed, he crossed his arms across his chest. "I don't know anyone named Gary!" he finally said sharply.

The one with the capris immediately stepped in front of him, smiling brightly as he offered a hand to shake that Ash accepted. "I'm Gold, and that's Red," he boy said and nodded at Ash's look-alike while Blue rolled his eyes at him.

He then turned to look at Misty and Brock, pointedly saying, "Now that introductions are done, what are you two doing here? Don't you have gyms to run? Why are you hanging around a bunch of kids?"

"Hey!" Ash and May both snapped.

"How do you know we're gym leaders?" Misty asked, a bit surprised.

"Oh, please, everyone knows who you are," Gold replied.

"Does that mean you've been stalking me?!"

"No! You aren't even that good looking!"

"Uh-oh," Max muttered under his breath as Misty's face turned a slight pink from anger, her temper quickly rising.

"I'll have you know that—"

"Can you all please stop arguing? It's giving me a headache," Blue interrupted, rubbing his head to emphasize his point. "Look, we just went through a portal or something, Red passed out along the way, my head's still a little fuzzy and my stomach's telling me not to eat anything for a week otherwise it'll come right back out. Can you at least tell us where we are?"

Dawn spoke up, smiling. "This is Viridian Forest in Kanto. Oh, we didn't introduce ourselves! My name is Dawn, this is Piplup!" she said.

"I'm May, this is my brother Max." Max waved, looking excited about something.

"I guess we don't have to introduce ourselves since you've been stalking us," Misty said with narrowed eyes towards Gold, who only huffed at her.

"I'm Ash and this is Pikachu!"

"Pika pi!"

Red blinked as one of the pokéballs on his waist exploded open and his own Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder, tilting his head as it looked between Ash and his trainer. Red shrugged silently and Pikachu jumped down to greet Ash's. As they greeted through small electric sparks through their tails, Brock said, "If you aren't feeling good, you can always come to our camp. It's just over the hill." He pointed and Blue nodded, following him up the small hill while the others followed their lead.

"You mentioned something about a portal, what did it look like? I didn't get a good look, we were all blinded by this light," Max asked and looked up at Gold and the others.

"It was strange," Gold said simply as he thought. "Like something had smashed something against glass but it was in the sky and it was completely black. There was a lot of wind and Professor Oak said that it was causing a lot of pokemon attacks. We think it was a different sort of portal made by Giratina. I thought we were going to the Distortion world, but it was completely dark, but what I want to know is if the others made it through. Did you see anyone else besides us three?" he asked and May shook her head.

"You're right about one thing though, it was a different kind of portal," Dawn mentioned.

"You said something about a light, we saw that same light too. But more than once, it was like there was a lightning storm going on. But we were all the way out on Cinnabar Island, nowhere near the forest," Blue mumbled, mainly to himself as he thought and finally gave up with a groan.

They reached the camp in no time and they handed the three portal travelers bottles of water. Blue was explaining what happened on Cinnabar Island and how they got their mission from Professor Oak, still confused on why or how it took so long to travel through portals. Of course, no one had an answer for that. Ash complained that Red spoke not a single word, only listening and nodding or shaking his head while Gold spoke too much, often getting Misty angry on purpose and how Blue acted nothing like Gary.

As the three strange travelers rested from their sudden arrival, Ash looked at his friends. "It's kind of strange they just appeared out of the blue, no pun intended," Brock said.

"They came through a portal, but even their story is a little weird," Misty added.

"We've seen lots of pokemon that were considered to be legends, seen too many of Team Rocket's inventions and this tops the lists," May said as Max nodded.

"But it's not impossible," the youngest said.

"Why not?" Ash asked with a blink.

He looked up at them, pushing his glasses up. "Any way you look at it, they are from another dimension, Blue looks exactly like Gary, but they're different, just like Red looks a lot like you. They're the polar opposites of you and Gary."

"I'm willing to bet that guy, Red, isn't much different from me."

"I think he is. He certainly doesn't talk as much as you do," Dawn added with a grin and ignored Ash's scowl.

They turned to the travelers again, seeing Blue stand up and set the half-empty bottle of water down. "So, instead of sitting around, we should go look for the others. Thanks for helping us, but we have to go—"

"Do you even know where to look?" Misty interrupted, smiling to herself as Blue hesitated and looked at Gold and Red. "How do you know where to look or where to go without first figuring out where you are?"

"You said we're in Viridian Forest, it doesn't look that different from ours," Gold replied and Blue nodded.

"But it's still different, isn't it?" Brock countered. "The smartest thing for you three to do is to stick with us. This isn't what we really had planned for our trip, but we can always pause and come back to it another time."

"Yea, and we can help you figure out a way to get home!" Ash said with a smile. "Professor Oak would probably be able to help you too, so let's go see him!"

Red, Blue and Gold looked between each other before they finally gave their own nods, one hesitant, one barely there and one enthusiastic. "You are way too happy for your own good," Blue noted as they helped them take the tents down.

Ash smiled. "Well, I like to think positive all the time. It makes my pokemon happy and when they're happy, then I am too!"

Blue shrugged once. "Simple thinking, but you aren't wrong there."

When the camp was taken down, each of them walked and chatted, asking what seemed to be thousands of questions towards the three new companions. Ash was a little excited to learn that Blue was a gym leader instead of a researcher like Gary, so of course he challenged him to a battle someday while May and Dawn were constantly trying to push Red into saying something, which was clearly annoying the taller trainer. Dawn kept mentioning that he looked so much like Ash, they were even at the same height and most likely the same age. Finally Gold was purposefully annoying Misty, finding childish joy in angering her through the entire walk out of the forest and asked the others if he had his own copy in this world, smiling as soon as he found out there was but didn't seem to like the name Jimmy.

After nearly an hour of walking, Red was the first to give a sigh and looked at Blue, showing him a pokéball that had a claw mark on it. "Oh, if you want to. It'd be faster anyway," Blue said, making the others stop in confusion as they watched the two.

"Want to what? What would be faster?" May asked and Ash smiled as soon as he saw Pidgeot and Charizard appear.

Red blinked as Charizard looked at him and Ash, then finally shrugged as it snorted, lowering itself so Red could climb on. "I have a Charizard too! But yours is bigger than mine, but does this mean that we have the same teams?" Ash asked quickly, causing his look alike to shake his head once. "So we don't? Why not?"

"Kid, he isn't like you, neither of us really travels outside of Kanto, so it's going to be painfully obvious that he doesn't have the same pokemon as you," Blue answered and Ash only huffed at him even as Pidgeot trilled loudly when she was released.

"My name isn't kid, and why are you calling me that? We're the same age!"

Blue snorted. "How do you know that? Just because you're as tall as Red doesn't mean you are the same age. Definitely not as mature, either." He climbed onto Pidgeot's back as Gold went onto Charizard.

Ash gritted his teeth and Pikachu made a worried sound from beside him, tail twitching once but a deep sigh calmed the human as he looked at his friends, who shrugged and released their own flying pokemon to follow Blue through the sky. Ash steered Staraptor to fly beside Charizard and Red, still wanting to know more about him as he shouted over the wind, "So, what do you do? Here, I'm a pokemon trainer! I'm trying to become the best there ever was!"

Red only shrugged and Gold grinned as he answered for him, "He's a trainer too, probably the best one ever! So, don't worry, Ash. You'll get to our level some day."

"Hey! I've beaten gyms! I've been through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, then I'm going to go to Unova and get their badges too!"

"Oh-ho! That's a lot of badges, but do you have the team to back up your claim?"

"I have the badges to back it up!"

"Badges mean nothing when you don't have the right team." Ash stared when Gold's face turned a little sad, though he was quick to hide it. He then looked at Staraptor, who turned his head towards Ash as well but then away to keep flying. "Trust me, I know."

"What happened?" he finally asked, a bit concerned.

"Nothing, really. I tried switching my team once and got my ass handed to me. By this one no less," he added and pointed to Red, who was ignoring them as best he could. "C'mon, you should be happy that we can at least one up each other sometimes. Even though we've only fought a few times." He stuck his hand directly in Red's face, grinning when he jumped. "Enough times to count on my hand—ow!" He rubbed his side, still smiling, after Red's elbow connected with his ribs.

From behind him, Ash heard someone laugh at their interactions.

May smiled, then pointed. "Oh, look! Viridian City is right there! If we keep this speed, we should be to Pallet Town by lunch time!"

They looked ahead and Red stared at the city. It was a little different, sure, but it was much bigger than last he'd seen it. Blue and Gold had no visible reaction, so he could only assume that in his absence it had grown in their world as well.

"So if you're a trainer too, and Blue's a gym leader, what do you do, Gold?" Ash asked and looked back up at the Charizard.

Gold turned towards him, smiling. "I'm a pokemon champion, of course."

"You're a champion?!" Max exclaimed, excitement on his face.

"Of course! So is Red, but he doesn't really advertise it as well as I do. But Blue used to be one, then Red beat him a long time ago—"

"Can we not talk about that?" Blue interrupted and Gold smiled, failing to notice the other's awe.

"That's so awesome! We're traveling with three champions!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu smiled happily, pumping his little fist in the air.

"Pika!"

"How much longer to Pallet Town?" Dawn asked curiously, adjusting her hat.

"A few hours. Make yourselves comfy!" Brock replied.

Blue groaned. He knew he would go crazy if there were any more of their questions or random comments that seemed to have zero filters. _Two more hours of this. Arceus, I'm starting to see why Red likes traveling alone._

Unbeknownst to them, a certain Meowth had binoculars stuck to his eyes and when he pulled them away, he handed them to the young man beside him. "Look at that, James! The twerps are all together! And they have some new friends!" he exclaimed.

"I didn't know the twerp had a twin!" James said, scowling at their female companion when she took the binoculars away to see for herself.

"Do you think that twerp has a Pikachu as strong as our twerp?" she asked and James grinned.

"Even if he doesn't, I'm sure his pokemon are just as strong!"

"That settles it! We need to get the twerp's Pikachu!"

There was a strange rumbling sound and James put a hand over his stomach.

"But not before we eat, I'm starving!" Jessie said, her own arms around her stomach.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry the update's a day late, but it's okay 'cause at least it's here! XD For those of you who didn't read the original, you wouldn't know that I was horrible at updating, especially near the end. This set schedule is already proving that it's helping me stay on track, lol. Anyway, thank you for all the positive feedback! I read each and every single one of the reviews, and honestly I like the feedback I'm getting, since I ran out of pre-written chapters (since I got lazy and didn't write as much as I should have), I like suggestions since it gives me ideas on what to write next.<strong>

**But how many of you can see, from the first chapter to now to future chapters, how many easter eggs I've hidden in this fic? ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

**Pallet Town, Kanto**

As the group of trainers neared Pallet Town, Ash looked at his silent counterpart, who had long since kicked Gold off to make him fly with Togekiss. He didn't know why the others were so confused; he _knew_ they hardly looked alike. He most definitely did not have the same red eyes, and Red didn't have those marks on his cheeks either. They didn't have the same teams, he talked a lot according to his friends while his look alike companion hadn't said a word the entire trip. The only thing they really did have in common were a few pokemon and raven black hair color.

However, he also knew the one thing that they definitely shared were their bonds with their pokemon. The Charizard he rode and his Pikachu both looked happy and healthy, scales and fur shining brightly with the sun and he was certain whatever other pokemon he had were just as cheerful. To be completely honest with himself, he also believed that the two of them shared an uncommon ability to constantly be involved in major events or strange happenings. After all, he'd traveled _back in time _and even became friends with Arceus himself. He smiled at his other many wonderful experiences and briefly wondered if he would ever get to learn about his counter part's past.

When the trees began to thin and the rolling hills began to appear, he noticed Red fidget a little, almost nervously and Blue had caught up on Pidgeot to chat beside him, even though it was a blatantly obvious one-sided conversation. Ash blinked at their interactions, then looked at Pikachu as the electric mouse seemed to grow excited when he began to recognize their surroundings and looked up at him with a happy, "Pika!"

He couldn't help but to smile at his best friend. "Yep! We're almost home, Pikachu!"

Staraptor trilled something alongside Pikachu and finally they were beginning a descent, each flying type landing gracefully onto the ground in front of the laboratory. As they climbed off, Blue patted Pidgeot's neck in thanks and said, "It doesn't look any different than ours. The park's a little bigger but that's about it."

Ash looked at Blue as they returned their pokemon. "Professor Oak will probably be the same too!" he mentioned excitedly.

"Well, Gary isn't the same as Blue and Red is nothing like you, so I doubt the two Professors are the same," Misty interrupted.

Pikachu gave an agreeing nod towards Misty as Ash rolled his eyes with a, "Pfft, I think they will be."

"Wanna bet?!"

"I'm gonna win!"

"Arceus, be quiet you two," Blue groaned as they approached the door to the lab. It was enough arguing, combined with the two and a half hour flight from the forest to the lab and they never seemed to stop, either. He shook his head as Ash and Misty huffed at each other, almost playfully ignoring each other as if they'd done it for years.

They entered the lab without difficulties a few minutes later and as Ash and his friends went forward, Red and Blue looked at each other; this definitely wasn't the same lab at all, it was far more open and had random rooms full of pokéballs sitting on shelves. Gold hummed to himself, giving them both a gentle push to get them started.

Ash entered the main part of the lab, smiling once he spotted Professor Oak standing over a bunch of notebooks and waved. "Hi, Professor Oak!" he said happily as Pikachu waved as well.

"Oh, hello there!" the older man said, though he was confused the moment he saw Red, Blue and Gold walk in. "Ash, you never told me you had a brother!"

Ash shook his head, still smiling before excitedly saying, "He isn't a brother, you'll never believed what happened!"

Before he could keep talking, the youngest of the entire group jumped up. "Yea! We were camping and all of a sudden this really bright light comes and then those three appear out of nowhere!" Max exclaimed, grinning as he pointed towards the three startled visitors. "We think they're from an alternate dimension! It's the only explanation!"

"You don't say?" Professor Oak approached the three now uncomfortable trainers. "Well, now I see why you're easily mistaken for Ash's brother." He then looked over Blue and Gold. "And while he certainly isn't Ash, you aren't Gary and you aren't Jimmy." Red couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the obvious statement.

Blue sighed with a bit of relief. At least his grandfather could recognize that he wasn't Gary; so far he'd be the first and hopefully not the last. He looked at the professor, feeling much more relaxed as he explained, "We were at Cinnabar Island and we were going to investigate a string of recent pokemon attacks the next day, but there was a portal that pulled all of us in before we could do anything. The next thing we know, we're in this world and these guys said they're going to help us try to get back too."

Professor Oak tapped his chin. "Hmm, that sounds odd. A portal in Cinnabar Island? Well, I'm certain there is a reason for it being there, but I'm afraid I can't really help you. I will do what I can, however." He suddenly smiled. "I know! I can call Gary! Perhaps he's seen something over in Sinnoh!"

Gold grinned, seeing Blue look a bit apprehensive of the idea as the professor walked over to the many monitors and began typing away. "Gary is a researcher in Sinnoh," Brock briefly explained. "When I traveled in Kanto with Ash and Misty, he was always a rival with Ash until the Johto league."

"I've never been to Sinnoh, but I heard it's cold up there," Gold replied with a slight shiver. "I would much rather prefer staying somewhere it's warm."

"Hoenn's pretty hot," May said and tapped her chin with an agreeing nod. "There are awesome places in Sinnoh, though.

Max looked at his sister, a knowing look on his face as he pushed up his glasses. "But there is more humidity in Hoenn, so that makes it the bad kind of warm."

Gold made a face. "Yea, no thanks—"

"Hello, Gary!" Professor Oak's voice suddenly said happily.

They all turned towards the giant monitor that showed the professor's grandson, dressed in a similar white coat and although he seemed to be happy to see his grandfather, he looked startled when he spotted the others. After explaining a third time from what happened, the older professor looked at the group beside him. "We were wondering if you have seen anything strange that happened up there in the past few hours or so?" he asked.

Gary nodded once, looking at the group as well. "Actually, yes," he replied. "They aren't in the lab right now, they went to the library a few minutes ago, but a couple of girls just showed up with this bright flash of light in Canalave City."

"What are their names?" Blue asked.

"The one with the blackish blue hair said her name was Crystal, the other one said her name is Platina."

Gold subconsciously gave a sigh, relieved to find out at least someone from his trio was safe and sound. "Then where'd the others end up?" he asked quietly to Blue and Red, the latter remaining silent as Blue frowned.

"That sounds almost impossible! We were in Cinnabar Island! We were nowhere near Sinnoh!" he exclaimed and looked at Professor Oak, who was rubbing his chin again as he thought.

Finally he shook his head, putting on a bright smile on his tired face. "It's getting late, so why don't we continue this in the morning so we can wrap our heads around this. It is the most unusual thing that has happened lately, and I definitely want to be a part of it!" Professor Oak finally said excitedly. "Gary, in the morning, could you bring the ladies and we can speak with them? I'm sure their friends would like to see them as well, and they probably have their own questions to ask them. I'll be here at nine, so go ahead and call whenever you like."

"Got it, gramps," Gary replied then looked at Blue, Gold and Red. "It was nice to meet you."

"Yea, you too. Kind of weird, given the circumstances," Blue replied simply and Gary nodded before ending the call. Blue then looked at the professor as he straightened and looked out the window. "Is Daisy around so we can ask to stay with her? You don't think she'd mind so many guests, right?"

Professor Oak looked at him with a questioning face. "Who is Daisy?" he finally asked.

Red looked concerned and looked at Blue as he stirred uneasily. "Daisy? You know, my sister?"

"Oh, well, I believe that is another prime example of the differences. Gary doesn't have a sister."

Blue looked startled but he sighed. "I guess there are very major differences between our two worlds. It kinda makes me actually miss Daisy."

"Kinda?" Gold responded, raising a brow. "I think she's pretty hot myself."

Blue instantly glared at him despite Gold's laughter and the other's confused looks.

"Ash, why don't you ask your mother? I'm sure she'd be willing to have all of you over there," Professor Oak interrupted and Ash's face brightened as he nodded.

"Yea! There isn't enough beds for all of us, so maybe we can all sleep in the living room or even camp outside!" he said happily as Pikachu followed him loyally out of the lab.

The sky was completely dark by now, the stars shining brightly in the quiet little town as the large group walked, a few talking loudly and others taking in the serene fields. Most of it was very familiar, even to the three travelers, though as soon as that white picket fence came into view, Blue was eyeing Red when he noticed him begin to grow nervous. "It's your fault, you know," he said with a shrug. "Besides, it isn't even your mom, it's Ash's. So at least be nice to her, okay?"

Red hesitated before he nodded once, following them through the gate. Before Ash could even knock on the door, it was answered by a Mr. Mime wearing an apron and holding a broom, delighted to see him and turned its head back towards a room. "Mime, Mr. Mime!" it called.

A woman came to the door, smiling as soon as she saw them all. "Oh, it's Ash! I thought you were all camping for the week! Well, it's okay with me! Come in, come in! I can always make extra food for dinner!"

She opened the door wider, letting them all inside and paused once she spotted Gold as he waved at her happily, Red, who kept his eyes averted, and Blue as he calmly followed. "I can say I'm surprised to see you, Gary! I thought you were all the way out in Sinnoh!"

Ash smiled and tried to quiet a fit of laughter, having sworn he saw a vein in Blue's forehead pulse but calmed himself as he extended his hand. "I'm not Gary. My name is Blue, and I'm a pokemon trainer," he said and the woman smiled back and nodded as she shook his hand in greeting.

"And I'm Gold!" the shortest of the three said, then motioned beside him. "This is Red."

"Nice to meet you all! Ash is always making new friends, I'm so proud of him for that. My name is Delia, but you can call me Mrs. Ketchum. This is Mr. Mime, he's been such a big help around here!" She smiled as the psychic-type looked over and smiled cheerfully, closing the door and looked at Red, Blue and Gold for a few moments before looking at Mrs. Ketchum again. "What is it, Mr. Mime?"

"Mime, mime!" he replied, studying Red with complete concentration. Red returned the look with narrowed eyes and Ash's mother gasped once as she looked back and forth between him and her son.

"Why, you look so much like my Ash!"

Ash nodded. "We told the professor this already. Those three are from another universe," he said calmly and his mother blinked a few times in shock before sighing.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't expect anything less. You seem to attract strange happenings to you, Ash."

Blue looked at Red pointedly, who shook his head at him instantly. "This one does too," Blue said with a grin and Ash looked at his counterpart with curious eyes.

"Like what?" he asked, smiling.

"For one, he was and still is a magnet for trouble of any kind—"

"Ahem, Ash," May coughed into her hand, grinning mischievously as Ash's face flushed slightly pink of embarrassment.

"—he also attracted the attention of the three legendary birds, Mew and Mewtwo."

"Really?!" Brock said as Red started to ignore them, in favor to wander into the living room and explore with his own Pikachu on his shoulder.

Gold grinned. "Well I helped save Lugia and the three legendary dogs in Johto!" he boasted, smiling at the attention that was suddenly shifted towards him.

"Yea, yea, show off. Anyway, not much has happened recently though, but I think this would top the charts," Blue interrupted, rolling his eyes.

Mrs. Ketchum was smiling, going into the kitchen as she called for Ash to help her set the table and get the extra blankets from the closet. As he whined about it, Red was looking at the different trophies set up in the living room, and he'd be lying if he told himself he wasn't impressed. He himself didn't have as many badges as Ash did, each in their own cases from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn as well as two places he didn't recognize. Pikachu was staring at the various pictures of the happy and smiling child in them and looked at Red, tilting his head before smiling happily when he received a gentle scratch against the ears.

Red glanced towards his right as Ash came up from behind, smiling. "I come home every time I finish a league," he explained. "Most of the time, I'm in the top twenty four! I made champion in the Orange Island league, but it isn't recognize as an official tournament by the Pokemon League, so I can't say I'm a champion." He looked at him again. "I want to battle you though. Maybe a one on one? My Pikachu versus yours. Not right now of course, but Blue said he'd battle me! We're going to do a three on three match eventually, maybe after all this is over. So… do you accept it?" He offered a hand to shake, a challenging look in his eyes.

Red looked amused; this kid was nearly just like him, always eager to battle a far better opponent and then finally nodded once, taking the hand. It should turn out to be an interesting battle, to say in the least.

Ash smiled again and pumped a fist into the air. "You hear that, Pikachu? We're going to be battling Red!"

"Pika pi!"

Soon after, his mother called them all for a large dinner and as soon as they were all stuffed to the brim, she made Ash do the dishes after telling him that the others were all guests. Blue seemed to be amused by the whining, it was hardly something Red ever did, and if he ever did whine about something, it was usually for good reason.

For the moment, he went to his long-time rival as he was the last to stand and put a hand on his shoulder. "At least thank her. She isn't your real mother, even if she looks exactly like her," he said softly. "Think of it like this: when we go back, you can at least face your mom without being so nervous." He laughed as Red shot a glare at him. "You know it's true! Baby steps, Red. Baby steps."

He left and Red frowned, looking at Pikachu as he nodded. "Pikachu," he said encouragingly.

His trainer finally sighed, looking at Mrs. Ketchum as she came over to take his plate and silverware. "Thank you," he finally mumbled under his breath, but she somehow seemed to hear him and smiled kindly.

"You're very welcome, Red." As she put the dishes into the sink, she added, "You look so much like my Ash, but you act nothing like him. It's a complete opposite, really. He told me you are a champion in your world, is that true?"

Red nodded and Pikachu sensed his nervousness as he tapped his leg from underneath the table, flicking his tail. He and Mrs. Ketchum looked at the yellow mouse and she couldn't help but to smile and giggle. "He's so much like Ash's Pikachu as well. Those two keep pushing each other forward, and it seems like nothing can bring those two down. It seems like you are the same way with your Pikachu."

Red smiled and nodded, watching Pikachu jump up onto her shoulder and rubbed his face against her cheek as she laughed again as he demanded attention. In the living room, Blue was sitting on the couch as Ash and his friends got other chairs and sat on the other side of the couch, each wanting to tell them a story or two about their many journeys together. "This all reminds me of my journey too!" Gold piped in, smiling. "The most recent one was trying to get up Mount Silver though, and that was super hard to do."

"Isn't that the most dangerous mountain?" Brock said, looking amazed.

"Why did you go up there?" Dawn asked.

Gold sat up a bit as Blue gave a quiet sigh. "I was looking for Red, actually," Gold replied. "He was missing for a while and we figured if he wasn't anywhere else, he'd be there. Sure enough, I found him up on the peak, living in a cave and training." He smiled. "I was the only one who could make it up there besides him, so maybe one day some of you can get to the peak, if just to say that you've done it."

"I accept that challenge!" Ash said with enthusiasm. "Who knows, maybe we can do it now, right Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded and Gold laughed, causing them to both frown a little.

"Don't get me wrong, Ash, it takes a special kind of training to get up there, not just for your pokemon but for yourself too. The air is thin up there, and it has sub-zero temperatures on the peak, even in the summer sometimes. Storms will come randomly at any time of the year and if you survive all of that, you also have to think about the wild pokemon that have lived up there all their lives."

"He's right, Ash," Misty said. "The pokemon up there are vicious and even Cynthia would have trouble getting up there."

"Well, maybe we can't do it now then. But I'm sure that we can in the future!" Ash responded, smiling again as Pikachu nodded one more time.

Suddenly Max yawned, blinking sleepily and May smiled sympathetically. "Let's get to sleep, it's late anyway and we have a long day tomorrow," she said as she stood and stretched. "The professor wants us over by nine, Red, Blue and Gold need to see their friends too."

Gold nodded. "Crys is probably worried, but I want to know if the others are okay too. They ended up all the way in Sinnoh, who's to say someone else could've been thrown into the middle of the ocean?"

"Let's hope not," Blue replied and got up. As the others started filtering out of the cramped living room and set up their tents outside, he saw Ash's mother come into the living room with Red. "We're all going to get some sleep, so if you need anything, we'll be outside," he told her and she smiled as she handed him the extra blankets and pillows.

"Of course! I'll leave the door unlocked for you kids so you can come in and get snacks if you get hungry. The plates are over there and the cups are next to the sink," she replied as they headed outside to join the others. Before she closed the door, she smiled and waved. "Good night, you guys! Let me know if you need anything else!"

"Night, Mom!" Ash replied as he headed into his own tent.

As the lights of the house turned off and the trainers began to fall asleep, Ash stared at the roof of the tent and scratched Pikachu's head, smiling as he blinked wearily at him. "We'll become the best, Pikachu! And if Red is as good as they say, maybe we'll even become champions!"

Pikachu yawned at him instead, curling up into a tighter ball on his stomach to sleep again.

"Watch out, world, here we come!"

"Pikachu, pi…"

There was an annoyed groan from the tent beside his. "Ash, shut up and go to sleep," Blue mumbled in his own sleep and rolled onto his stomach to bury his face into a pillow.

Morning came too quickly for all of them, but the delightful scent of breakfast cooking from the kitchen woke most of them, dragging them all from their sleepy states and bed heads to go inside to see what Ash's mother was cooking. The few who didn't wake up were woken by their friends when breakfast was nearly done being cooked and Gold wished he could simply go back to sleep as he fought back a yawn and pulled his hat off to fix his bedhead. "Good morning!" Misty said cheerfully to them, though only received a groan from the trainer.

Breakfast was devoured within minutes and as soon as it was over, they all had enough energy to start moving around and taking their tents and makeshift beds down. Blue, Gold and Red returned the blankets and pillows to Ash's mother before they followed the others up the hills towards Professor Oak's lively laboratory. Inside, an assistant led them to the professor as he spoke to three figures on the large screen and as soon as he recognized them, the old man smiled. "Good morning, all of you! Gary, Crystal and Platina are on the line." He looked back at the screen. "Crystal and Platina, these are the friends yours have made since they arrived!" he said and stepped aside as the group looked at the screen.

"Gold! You're okay!" Crystal said, looking relieved.

Gold nodded and smiled. "I'm a-okay! Were you really worried about me?"

"No!" she replied, far too quickly and Brock snickered from behind them.

Completely ignoring their banter and small talk, the younger looking girl beside her leaned forward a little to be heard through the screen. "We learned from Professor Rowan that the flashes happened everywhere and other professors are reporting sightings as well," the other girl said much more calm, and Dawn couldn't help but to stare. "I assume you are my counter part?"

Dawn smiled. "Yup! My name is Dawn! Nice to meet you!"

"And you as well." She looked back at the older professor Oak. "Professor Rowan says that Professor Birch reported a sighting, but he has not seen anyone not of this world yet."

"Perhaps they aren't advertising it, which is smart, to be honest," he replied.

"Whatever caused this to happen, we'll get to the bottom of this," Crystal added and looked at the group of friends. "Gary, Platina and I are going to Iron Island today. Unlike our world, there's a town on the island and there's even ruins of Dialga and Palkia we want to look at for ourselves."

"Maybe Riley can help you there! He lives on that island with Lucario, and maybe they can sense things with aura," Dawn suggested.

"There's an Aura Guardian there? That's impressive," Blue said though Red looked confused. "It's basically having super powers, I'll explain it to you later." Red didn't seem to be convinced but nodded anyhow.

As soon as he was finished speaking, another screen popped up next to Gary, Platina and Crystal with a much younger professor than Professor Oak, though older than his grandson. "Ah, Professor Elm!" he said cheerfully. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"Well, I'm not sure actually," he started. "I got a call earlier saying that there was… a strange phenomenon going on in the sky near Mount Silver. It was Lance, he said that there was a strange object in the sky, almost like the sky was cracking."

The alarms were instantly raised in Blue's mind and he looked at Gold and Red, who were likewise giving each other knowing looks.

"That's what happened in our world!" Crystal said.

"Except it was near Cinnabar Island," Gold added.

"The closer we got, the stronger the pull from that portal was. Who knows where you could get sent to if you were pulled into it," Blue replied.

Professor Elm nodded. "I'll let Lance know that then. He also told me that there were bright flashes of light last night near Violet City and Cianwood City, and he's going to investigate. He wants to know if any of you can help him look around Violet City and see what you can find."

There wasn't a single person who said no, which pleased the professor as he hung up. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a Johto native who looked overjoyed.

"Pack your bags, people, we're going to Johto!" Gold shouted excitedly.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the late uploads, some stuff happened, I moved, then I got pinkeye (no fun, btw) and now I'm back and I have time to myself to write again! Yay! The regular schedule will be back, and I will update Misadventures on Saturday for those who are reading that as well. Also, I'm an avid gamer so I think I'm going to do regular live streaming on Sunday afternoons. Also, 72 hours remaining for those who get what I mean ;)<strong>


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